Chapter 4 #2
“Ok. But I don’t want to walk. Will you carry me? I want a piggyback ride.” She blinks up at me with an unfocused gaze and her bottom lip sticking out in an adorable pout.
I want to pull her into my arms and kiss her until her lips are swollen. My mind drifts to all the times I’ve wished she turned to me to take care of her. I shake my head, trying to focus on the here and now.
“I think you’re too drunk for a piggyback ride.”
“Put me down, Chopper!” Roxy squeals as she’s lifted into the air and thrown over Chopper’s shoulder. He slaps her butt and chuckles as he marches outside.
Oakley’s holding onto Morris’ and Jasper’s arms, giggling every time she sways to the side. Both guys are smiling like they just won a prize as they help her out to the car. They know they don’t have a shot with her, but they’re happy to irritate all the guys who thought they did.
“C’mon, I’ll carry you,” I whisper against the shell of Dixie’s ear.
Bending down, I grab the back of Dixie’s thighs and lift her into the air. She doesn’t hesitate to wrap her legs around my waist and her arms around my shoulders. She snuggles her face into the crook of my neck and her soft exhales fan across my sensitive skin.
In the two minutes it takes me to get out to the SUV, Dixie’s sound asleep in my arms. Instead of driving, I toss my keys to Jasper and climb in the backseat with Dixie still wrapped around me.
Chopper eyes me, but he doesn’t say a word. Roxy’s cuddled up against him, trying to wrap his jacket around herself. The girls barely have clothes on for it being fall, almost winter.
Jasper pulls into the club a few minutes later and cuts the engine. He and Morris help Oakley get to the girls’ place, then they take off right away. They don’t want to get caught with the girls and face any sort of punishment. I can't say I blame them. I’d feel the same way if I were a prospect.
Roxy fights Chopper when he tries to help her, but after she trips and almost lands on her face, she allows him to hold onto her arm.
I take my time getting out of the car and trying not to wake up Dixie. She’s going to have a rough morning tomorrow, so she might as well get a good night’s sleep now.
“Storm, how drunk is she?” Porter steps out of his door and shakes his head at his daughters.
“Dixie’s definitely the most drunk. She can't stand by herself and begged me to carry her. Oakley seemed capable of handling herself. Roxy’s definitely drunk, but she’s still fighting with Chopper, so she can't be too far gone.”
“I don’t want Dixie left alone,” he sighs and runs a hand through his hair.
“Do you want me to leave her at your place or take her to mine?” I keep my voice low and glance around to make sure no one is around to hear us.
Though Porter’s always trusted the club to help care for his daughters, he’s never trusted any of us to stay with them overnight.
The club is a series of buildings. The majority of us who are single or with small families, live on these grounds in one of the many apartments.
Most of the time, women don’t get their own apartments.
They either leave when they turn eighteen, or they find a boyfriend or husband within the club and become an old lady.
The Reeves girls were given an apartment. I think it was to keep them close while also giving them some freedom. Porter knew they’d flee if they weren’t treated like adults, so he bent the rules.
“Take her to your place. I'm afraid she’ll get sick and I don’t need to be worrying about her all night. I have other things to focus on before I go to bed.”
I take in the tension in his shoulders for the first time. The worry lines around his eyes and across his forehead. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before, but maybe I thought he was stressed about the girls, not the club.
“Is there anything you need me to do? I can have someone else sit with her so I can help you.”
“No.” He waves me off and brushes some loose hair out of Dixie’s face. “I need someone I truly trust to be with her. Who knows if a prospect would take advantage of her when she’s like this. I know you wouldn’t do that.”
“I’d never do anything to hurt my Little Fox,” I mutter more to myself than to him.
Porter chuckles and shakes his head. A smile tips up one side of his lips and he watches me carefully.
“I forgot how you call her that. It drives her nuts, you know? She’s asked me at least two dozen times over the years why you call her Little Fox.”
“What’d you tell her?”
“Heck if I know!” He laughs even harder.
“She used to stomp her foot and fold her arms across her chest as she glared at me like I could make everything in her life perfect… It’s tough as they get older and you realize you can't possibly give them everything they’ve ever wanted.
” He lets out a long, tension filled sigh.
“What can't you give them?”
“A life free of the Savage Wolves. If I let them go, there will constantly be a target on their backs. We have too many enemies. Too many people who would love to see us fall. I can't risk something happening to them. My three precious daughters and this club are all I have in life.”
I nod my head and don’t say a word. There’s no response good enough. That’s what a life in a motorcycle club looks like. The club is the most important thing, that and the ones you love.